Enlightened
by M0TI0NL3SS
Summary: 'I just wanted to enjoy the sunrise. I really don't get to see them enough. They're actually quite breathtaking..' Corey Graves x Jake Carter with hints of Corey Graves x Adrian Neville. Slight mentions of abuse.


**A/N: My first slash! Let me know what you guys think!_ Italics_ = flashbacks.**

* * *

A sinking feeling had overcame in the tattooed and rebellious NXT star Corey Graves. His vision was blurry, his eyes feeling like they were being held down by boulders, although, they gleamed brightly with the condense rays of sunlight that reflected off of them. It had felt like one too many times he had forgotten to wash the gel out of his hair, and by this point he could barely run a brush through it without cussing and swearing violently. He sighed to himself, as work had become a hassle lately to keep up with, if only there was an escape button for these things. He proceeded to sit up on his hotel room bed and stare out the window, trying to receive any wave of consciousness he could.

It was and early morning in mid-July, as the sun shined a bright orange, glistening over the busy and loud city of Chicago. Corey looked over at his boyfriend of about 4 months or so, Jake Carter, who was fast asleep, yet his hand still managed to clutch a handful of the crimson colored sheets that surrounded the bed. In all honesty, Corey thought it was kind of cute, and he let out a slight chuckle quiet enough that it wouldn't awaken the snoring beauty himself. Things had been stressful for the duo lately, as Corey was forced to turn his back on his former tag team partner and begin an alliance with his new found friend, Adrian Neville. It literally tore Jake to pieces, and a bumpy road was sure to be ahead of them. It wasn't like this in the beginning though, things were fine, great actually.

_It was a late, cold winter's night in late-January. Corey had been wrestling for over a decade at the time, and was stuck in the developmental area as usual. He let everyone know that he did in fact debut in 2006 in World Wrestling Entertainment, but sadly, no one seemed to care, or remember. He was practically the lone little puppy among the big wolves, left to fend for himself and go down his own path. His parents couldn't have gave a single shit what he was up to, and didn't support his decision to be a wrestler one bit. He worked multiple jobs just so he could pay for his own plane tickets and pay his rent on time, but even that was a challenge. The only thing he could trust was himself, and whatever bad decision or wrong turn he made would be on him. _

_Graves had just came back from working a house show in Florida, and was feeling worse than horrible. His stomach was grumbling, but not in hunger. Light shades of purple circled around his eyelids; his hair had no gel, seemingly making it a giant mess. He'd been feeling sick the night before, but he choose to kept his mouth shut and work through it, I mean, I'm sure Maxine would've cared less, regardless of her mood, what he was feeling, and would simply tell him to stop with all of his damn complaining and go do his job. It was pure agony, all of it. He'd asked himself multiple times why he had gone on this long. Why was he still trying to make a name for himself? Everyone told him he would never make it anyways, and they were probably right; No, they were right. Maybe it was just time to put a stop to chasing a dream that would never happen. He ended up trailing into a bar, hazily walking over and sitting on a stool. He looked over beside him. A tall, well-built dirty blonde sat there, drink in his hand. Corey wasn't gonna lie to himself, the kid was pretty good looking, almost mesmerizing in a way. The guy looked over at him, and shot him a smirk.  
_

_"Someone looks way over their head." Corey suddenly raised an eyebrow._

_"Shut it." he replied in a foul manner, rubbing his temples with his fingers._

_"Only trying to make conversation here." the dirty blonde laughed slightly, taking a sip of his beer._

_"Shouldn't you be hitting on girls or something?" Corey looked over at him, as the guy seemed to almost burst out in laughter._

_"Actually, I'm gay." he replied with no shame or worry to his voice._

_"Oh..that makes two of us." Corey admitted. "Sorry, I've been just really stressed lately."  
_

_"Hey, hey it's cool. I'm Jesse, my friends call me Jake though." _

_"Name's Matt, I go by Corey."_

_"Oh!" Jake's face suddenly lit up with excitement. "You're Corey Graves, aren't you?"_

_"How'd you know?" Corey spun himself around in his stool so he could face Jake._

_"The 'Stay Down' tattoo was a dead giveaway." Jake let out a laugh, pointing to Corey's tattooed knuckles.  
_

_"Ah, so you've noticed." smirked Corey. "I'm guessing you work in the developmental territory as well?"_

_"How'd you know?" asked Jake._

_"The generic wrestling trunks we're a dead giveaway." Corey laughed nudging his arm lightly.  
_

_"Haha, right? I swear you know you're headed to no where when they barely put any thought into your attire." Jake gulped down the rest of his beer.  
_

_"Let me tell you, I can already tell my career is going down the drain."_

_"How so?"_

_"I overheard them saying they might fire me."_

_"Really?"_

_"Yup."_

_"Nah man, don't sweat it." Jake put a hand on Corey's shoulder willingly. "I'm sure your head must have just jumbled the words up and you misheard them."_

_"I doubt it highly." Corey said slightly leaning in to Jake's shoulder hold. _

_"I actually heard we might be teaming together."_

_"Seriously? Next thing you're going to be telling me some shit like 'fate brought us together here'." Corey shook his head at his own remark, laughing._

_"No I'm serious, I seriously think we're going to be teaming together, possibly going for the FCW Tag Team Championships too." Jake shot Corey a smile._

_"Wow, that's actually really good. I need something to look forward to these days." Graves looked down, sighing to himself.  
_

_"Not much to live for, huh?" Jake nervously ran a hand through his hair, not happy with the way he put out his words, but instead Corey nodded in agreement. _

_"Yeah, it's kind of hard when no one's there to support you. Even just one person would be good enough for me." _

_"I've actually seen some of your past stuff when I've had the chance. I think you have what it takes."_

_"Well, that's nice of you to say but, coming from someone who's ALSO stuck at the bottom doesn't really help the case." Corey began to slouch in his stool._

_"I wouldn't exactly say 'stuck at the bottom', but more 'slowly rising to the top'. Don't see the cup as half empty, you know?" Jake quoted. "There's gonna be a time where you'll be needing those words anyways, at least once in your life."_

_"Whatever you say." Corey just decided to go along with it, still doubting himself in the process. "I'm gonna get out of here."  
_

_"Hey, before you go, I hate to ask but, can I have your number?"_

_Corey suddenly looked back at Jake, letting a smirk escape his lips._

_"Yeah, I guess you've earned it kid."_

_Jake pulled out a pen and a notepad from his jacket, handing it over to Corey who proceeded to write down his number, putting a small 'xo' beside it._

_"What's the 'xo' suppose to mean?" Jake chuckled a little._

_"You'll figure that out when the time comes." Corey shot him a wink, and just like that, he headed off._

_As the months went by, Jake and Corey grew closer and closer, and to Jake's prediction, they ended up teaming together and winning the Tag Team Championships. Their reign lasted a good couple of months, and they definitely made sure they went out of FCW with a bang. Eventually, Corey found himself literally falling head over heels for Carter himself, and the two ended up coming together, not only as champions, but as lovers too. Everything was finally starting to look up for Graves. It was safe to say he was actually happy for once, and that's something that doesn't just come naturally to him. He felt like he didn't need anyone else to tell him he was doing okay. As long as he had Jake, he knew that he was in a good position in his career._

_In July of 2012, Florida Championship Wrestling merged with WWE's reality show WWE NXT, thus ended Corey and Jake's title reigns as the Tag Team Champions. Thankfully, the two were still able to team with one another for the time being, that is when news hit them right in the face._

_Corey and Jake walked down the hallways of Full Sail University. They had been noted to Dusty's office for an "important announcement" regarding their futures. _

_"I'm kind of worried." Jake rubbed his forehead in agony as Corey rested his arm upon his shoulder._

_"Don't stress it, babe, I'm sure we'll be fine." Corey replied in an attempt to try and console him. They walked into the General Manager's office, taking a seat.  
_

_"So boys, I have some important news regarding your careers here in NXT." Dusty said with his southern drawl. "You two are going to be separated, Jake working as a solo wrestler and Corey working in a new team."_

_"What?! Why?" exclaimed Corey and Jake let out a groan._

_"You see, our good friend Oliver Grey was injured, therefore leaving Adrian alone. All of our top superstars in this territory are already in storylines, and we figured if we took you two apart, it wouldn't affect anything, considering you guys aren't exactly well known in NXT, yet." Dusty managed to add, causing Corey to scowl at him._

_"So you're saying I'll be teaming with Neville and Jake will be left in the dust with no one? No, hell no." Corey hissed in anger._

_"We haven't exactly found a storyline for Jake yet, but when the time comes we'll have everything sorted." replied Dusty._

_"No, I'm not going through with this, fu-" Jake remembered who's office he was in, and stopped himself from going any further._

_"If there's a problem, we can try and sort it, but the decision is final." Dusty claimed as Corey and Jake stepped out of his office. Jake practically sank to his knees, hiding his face in his hands. Corey expected Jake to be the crier of the two, but Jake didn't cry OFTEN, which is what startled Corey when Jake started to whimper. Corey got down to his level and held him tightly._

_"Baby please don't cry." he said holding him close, planting tiny kisses on his neck._

_"I knew this was going to fucking happen!" Jake yelled in anger as he pulled Corey closer to him._

_"We're gonna get by this I promise, we'll find a way." Corey pleaded to him. "Together."_

_Month after month, Corey and Jake always traveled together to keep one another company before they had matches. It was tough at times, but they went to the extremes to make things work, whatever it took. It was when Corey's storyline with Adrian began that pulled Jake apart. Jake felt alone, helpless. It seemed to him that he was losing the thing that mattered most to him. Adrian and Corey would hang out after their matches as well, and Jake ended up letting jealousy overcome him. He even punched Adrian outcold one night, and Corey and him got into a screaming fit, causing Graves to lose his edge and grip and claw at Jake's wrists. Jake, bloodied and bruised, left Corey thinking they couldn't work this out. Corey was extremely depressed, trying to text and call Jake whenever he could, but a single reply was never given. Corey came to conclusion and figured they needed time. He went on to win the Tag Team Championships with Adrian, and Jake, still stuck at the bottom, was almost in Corey's old position of thinking. He felt like he couldn't do anything anymore, so he just stopped showing up to his matches. Almost getting fired, he decided to ask Dusty if he could leave for a bit until he got his head together, and his offer was accepted. _

_About a year later, Corey and Jake ended up bumping into each other, once again, at the bar. They talked for a while, and Corey admitted he had kissed Adrian once or twice in his absence, but Jake didn't mind, saying he had every right to. Corey was still upset over the fact that he had hurt Jake, and thought that he couldn't be with him, or that he even deserved a second chance, but Jake didn't stand for it, and instead pleaded and begged Corey to take him back. They agreed, but decided to take things slower then usual. This decision helped them for the better, and things eventually started to grow back to normal. Jake apologized to Adrian, and they became good friends, the three going to catch a drink as a way to celebrate their wins. Although Jake had his doubts of making it ever, with Corey's guidance he managed to go on and keep fighting everyday to reach his goal, just as he did with Corey._

And now they were here. Corey stared up at the rising sun, the sky going from an ominous, almost seductive shade of orange to a bright, playful blue. He took in every last ray of sunlight, soaking up all of it's warmth and letting it enlighten him once more. It felt good, and actually managed to lift his spirits slightly. Just then, he overheard his lover mumble to him.

"Come back to bed baby, it's early." Jake let go of the sheets he was once clinging onto. Corey leaned over to him and cupped his face, kissing him lightly and stroking his cheek.

"Sorry, I just wanted to enjoy the sunrise. I really don't get to see them enough. They're actually quite _breathtaking_.."


End file.
